The present disclosure relates to an evaluation apparatus and an evaluation method, and more specifically, to an evaluation of a walking assistance apparatus performed by applying a load to the walking assistance apparatus.
In recent years, various kinds of walking assistance apparatuses for assisting walking by patients who are suffering from, for example, paralysis due to a stroke in the acute phase have been developed. A walking assistance apparatus determines, for example, whether the user's leg is in a standing leg condition or in an idling leg condition from the user's weight that has been input and the posture of the user. The walking assistance apparatus generates torque in a knee straightening direction in order to keep the angle of the knee joint when the user's leg is in the standing leg condition. On the other hand, the walking assistance apparatus causes the user to bend the knee joint from the end of the standing leg condition to the idling leg condition to prevent the affected leg from stumbling at the time of walking, and assists walking by causing the user to swing the affected leg. The walking assistance apparatus needs to have a sufficiently high strength and durability in order to help the user to learn correct walking by performing these motions in the acute phase or at an early stage of rehabilitation. Various evaluation apparatuses for evaluating the strength and the durability of the aforementioned walking assistance apparatus have been known.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-147636 discloses an apparatus for evaluating the strength and the durability of a walking assistance apparatus by applying a load to the walking assistance apparatus whose sole part is placed on a surface plate placed on the floor. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2014-147636 further discloses that it is possible to achieve an evaluation in which a dorsiflexion moment is reproduced by placing only a toe side of the sole of the walking assistance apparatus on the surface plate and to achieve an evaluation in which a plantar flexion moment is reproduced by placing only a heel side of the sole of the walking assistance apparatus on the surface plate.